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What size tires did you go with? My buddy put 5:13 gears in his yota with dana 44s and 35s. Definatly nice to have the low gears with bigger tires and a 4 banger. Did you get your driveline balanced? Those welds look nice. The high steer looks good too. Mabey put a hoop over your shock mounts too to add a little strength. Keep up the good work!

These tires are 33's, I am going to run them til they're shot. Probly won't see anything bigger than 35's. I'm goin from the stock 4.10's to 4.37's. I know that's probly still a lil high for 33-35" tires, but it's what I have, they cost me nothing, and in low range I will be juuuuust fine.... Especially after I get the duals handled....

I'm hoping to get the gears installed this coming up saturday. I still need to weld the piss outta the rear diff and put the lock-right in the front diff.... All in all though I am pleased with how fast and how sturdy this build is coming along. Considering I started just exactly a month ago, only worked on the truck on the weekends, also worked 40 hrs/week, am a single parent, and one of the weekends was easter.... I am pleased with the progress for sure.....

As far as hoops over the shock towers, I probly wont do that, but it has been suggested by a couple different people to gusset them, I may do that still. I tied them in to the factory upper bumpstops pretty good, I honestly doubt I will have any issues. I will end up gusseting them anyway I'm sure.

I didn't balance the driveline, and I am not going to either. I built it as true as anyone possibly could I'm sure.... I guarantee you it is STRAIGHT, and I won't go fast enough for it to need an actual balance. I drove around in 4-hi with the hubs unlocked and it was pretty damn smooth.... Got up to around 30mph with no negative feedback.... I am comfortable with it....

Thanks for the compliments on the welds! By no means do I claim to be a professional, but I did learn to weld when I was 7.... And I've seen people who DO claim to be professionals and their welds look like spoob......

36/12.5/15 They are definitely well used... BUT, they were less than $250, and with a good hotknife job should get me PLENTY of offroad miles.... I have a set of 5 15x10 steelies too, I think that will be the trail tires and I'll continue to run 33's on the street.......

Alright you two. Get the hell off the internet and out in your garages. Summer is approaching fast. Since you guys have the super baddass rides now, I get to follow you guys with my plain ol' plain jane toy.

This weekend I prepped the 4.37 thirds. Welded the spoob outta one and installed a lock right into the other. Then I installed the welded one into the rear. I will install the front one after work one eve this week... Gotta get done, this saturday is gonna be the maiden voyage for this thing. A few trucks are headed to the woods and I am determined to be there.....

I am actually a lil surprised how effective the small jump from 4.10 to 4.37 is. It improved drivability more than I thought it would.

I also sold the 15x10 wheels and picked up some 15x6 FJ60 stockers. Those 10" wheels were too damn wide for what I'm trying to do with this truck. When I'm all sorted out the plan is to run 33x10.50's on the 6" wheels and I'll put the trail tires on the 8"ers... Buddy of mine is gonna take them to work and have them blasted/powder coated....

OK.... Installed the front locked diff.... Went wheeling... AWESOME! I've never had a truck that was as capable as this, I'm stoked about it.... Also, FYI, DNR is on the prowl in SWWA.... They handed out 12 tickets to our group on Saturday.... I will NOT be doing ANY off roading locally anymore... Gonna make TSF trips from here on out... Had a blast anyway.....

Here's a few pics... They aren't super exciting but it shows some Toys in their natural habitat...

Put solid "bombproof" engine mounts in this the other day..... ThEeEeEyYyYy ArE vErYyYyYy ViBrAtOrRrRrEeEeEe..... I think they are gonna come out...... Or maybe I will just run one solid and one OEM and see how that goes.....

And I think thats it? Maybe more? Sheet I can't remember… Lets just say there's a growing pile of badassness in the garage waiting to go in my truck… And it will still look like a grampamobile to the untrained eye….

So, found some time and tore into it again.. This time upgrades include….

Sky's low-profile front hanger (pushing the axle ~1" further fwd)

5.29's with a Lock Right and a Grizzly (setup by yours truly, brand new gears/bearings/lockers)

IFS hubs, V6 calipers, Taco rotors

30 spline RCV axles

Cutting all the brackets and crap off the front housing

MC knuckle gussets

Some kinda diff armor

IFS rear axle/new shock mounts

That'll be all for this upgrade session, but on the shelf already sits a MC07 case adapter, 4.7's, G-series trans, RADesigns triple sticks and some other junk too…. I figured what the hell, been buying parts all summer….

Pics…..

I woke up the other day and pulled the truck in the shop, and started tearing into it….

Axle out

Heres the stock hanger location vs new hanger location, and new shackle angle at full load.

Stock

New

Shackle angle

Then I tore into the axle in the afternoon

And by the end of the day….

Yesterday was turkey day, didn't get any time in the garage… Hope to have a pretty significant status update by the end of the weekend….

yeah, totally not talking spoob. i just found I needed longer studs. i ended picking some up today, and have not put them in yet.
I had read that I might need longer studs. then realized I did. I picked up 54mm studs, Was just wondering if you had a different experience.cheers

I agree. I'd rather have longer ones. These are mechanically sufficient tho from a structural standpoint. There's half-again-more the diameter of the stud in length. Or, the stud is at least 1.5+ times longer than the diameter. The way I understand it, a bolt is only as strong as its diameter, threaded in.

That probly doesn't read correctly, but I'm pretty sure you know what I mean. Lol.

Ok, so I finished with this session of upgrades, still need to put the diff armor on, but I didn't have it til yesterday so it'll go on soon….

Everything turned out freakin TITS….. Took the boomerang shackles off, they are no longer necessary after pushing the axle fwd again, was gonna buy triple drilled flanges, but drilled my 2nd gen flanges to fit my 1st gen D-lines, so I have dual drilled flanges. Grinding the IFS hubs to accept the Taco rotors took longer than I thought it would. The V6 calipers clear the wheels by less than 1/4". That all worked out badass though. Built a small truss out of some pipe, put two 5/8" nuts in each one of the steering stops before I welded the knuckle gussets on, and adjusted the steering stop adjusters on the knuckles so they actually BOTH work in BOTH directions. Shaved the bottom perch down and boxed it in….

When I swapped the IFS rear axle in the parking brake cable was too short to connect to both sides, so I put a 3/16" quick link in and it works better now than it did before. Also I plumbed around/removed the LSPV, I was unsure of how it would act without it in there, I've heard horror stories of the rear brakes locking up. I haven't had any issues, did a few full-on brake lockups in gravel and on the road brake bias feels good to me. They all lock up equally as far as I can tell. AND the parking brake works as it should. Also welded new shock mounts to the axle and out boarded them right close to the u-bolts.

I think thats about it, not bad for 4 days of work I'd say…

Pics

As I built the axle on the stand it got really heavy, so heavy I couldn't lift it off and I was alone, so I put the tires on it and pushed the whole damn thing over haha.

Got a day in the snow, never had a rig so capable. Trimmed the front fenders a lil more. Tires only rub at full stuff/full lock BARELY on the firewall. Cant wait to build the duals… That will make the truck "done"… And I wanna get some weld on bead locks….

Here come duals!! Spent the last day and a half building gearboxes. Put 23 spline MC 4.7's in the rear case, and stock 2.28 in the front box. WAS gonna buy a TG top shift conversion kit, but goddamn I didn't want to give TG my $$, so I just converted it myself, and its WAYYYYY more satisfying. And it was easy as shit… If you're reading this and want to convert a fwd shift case to top shift, DO IT YOURSELF DONT WASTE YOUR $$….

I took the fwd shift shifter, and put it in the top shift shifter base. It lines up perfectly in the RADesign triple shift setup… Check the pics…

Budbuilt crossmember should be here in a couple days, and I have a pile of drivlines on the bench to cut up. I plan on tearing my truck apart tomorrow and hope to have it back on the road by sunday…

Also drilled another output flange so I have dual drilled flanges on the diffs and rear t-case output. Its no triple drilled flange, but I can run 1st and 2nd gen d-line shit….